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So folks have probably seen articles about random people looking up contact information on FAA aircraft registry after tracking them via ADS-B aggregators. AOPA worked with FAA to provide a way for owners to request opting out of showing the owner information on the aircraft registry. Just went through it and submitted my request - takes about 2 weeks apparently for the review to be completed. Site: https://cares.faa.gov/home The process was a bit confusing as trying to login to "Aircraft Services" takes you to the FAA MyAccess sign on page which folks may already have accounts on for their "Airmen Services" portal. I had to sign up again using the red "Don't have an account? Sign up" which then connected my previous account and verified my address. Once you are in - you may or may not see your aircraft listed. I didn't. But I followed the steps that appears on a yellow banner on the top of the site (good ux there...), here it is again broken down neatly: To submit a request through CARES, Log into your CARES account Select Get Started Select Aircraft Services Select Submit Other Aircraft Documents For Request Type choose Other Supporting Documents For Document Type choose Other Upload File (see template below) Select Continue Complete Attestation and Submit. I asked my AI friend to generate a template, it looks sufficient and drives the point home. I filled in the right information including the [Insert N-Number(s)] and [Insert Full Name as Registered] in the middle of the document, then saved as PDF and uploaded it to the portal where it requested to upload file in step 7. ---------- [Your Full Name] [Your Address] [City, State ZIP Code] [Phone Number] [Email Address] [Date] Federal Aviation Administration Aircraft Registration Branch, AFS-750 P.O. Box 25504 Oklahoma City, OK 73125 Subject: Request for Withholding of Owner Information from Public Dissemination Reference: 49 U.S.C. § 44114(b) To Whom It May Concern, I am writing to formally request that my name and address, as a registered owner of aircraft, be withheld from public dissemination in accordance with 49 U.S.C. § 44114(b). I understand that the FAA permits private individuals to voluntarily opt out of having their ownership information made available to the public, and I wish to exercise this right. Please consider this letter my official request to have my personally identifiable information—including my name and address—removed from all publicly accessible databases and records related to aircraft registration, to the fullest extent allowed under applicable law. Aircraft Registration Number(s): [Insert N-Number(s)] Registered Owner Name: [Insert Full Name as Registered] If additional documentation or verification is required to process this request, please contact me at the phone number or email address provided above. I appreciate your assistance and attention to this matter. Sincerely, [Your Signature (if mailing a hard copy)] [Your Printed Name] ---------- I hope this helps some folks. Good luck! And yes, I am still giggling at the title... Shawn

I just wish I had a DME to go with the VOR for approaches. Actually, long term, I wish Garmin would come out with a DME module that gave DME capability to the 650/750 PLUS could hop channels and do DME/DME or DME/DME/DME nav in case of GPS outage, spooking or jamming.

I mean, he’s also pretty far down the runway …. If there was really inhospitable terrain right off the departure end and he would go sliding off a cliff or something on the belly, I guess maybe I could see someone arguing that it’s safer to go around. But imo unless the floor is lava right off the departure end, you’re always better off to slide it in, call the insurance company and hit the pub. This guy was in reptilian brain mode.

I wouldn’t like to be judgmental. But I guess I am. I imagine the decision to open the throttle was reactionary and instinctive. I imagine I would do the same. However, thinking about it over a cuppa, best to close the throttle.

I would document the changes you want to do. Most likely using the parts from a later model Mooney. And have your IA send them to his principal inspector for their opinion. Send a cover letter stating why you want to make the change and your basis for approval is the design changes Mooney made in later models. And see what they say. The inspectors here have stated that they hate it when somebody does a mod, then sends in the paperwork for approval. They would much rather you talked about it before you do anything.

Quick update: although I didn't receive any email from FAA, I decided to randomly check this evening and my aircraft ownership information was hidden on the FAA N-Number registry site. Small victory.

I've seen the aftermath of the same kind of accident - another fatal sadly at my home. A M20L Porsche conversion came in hot and long and bounced multiple times before starting a late go around; after a suspected prop strike. It tried to climb out but really couldn't and about 1/4 mi past the runway came down on the roof of a building and bounced off into the parking lot killing as elderly passenger. The pilot survived but it was especially sad because the pax was the pilots mother and to the best of my knowledge that pilot never flew again. Her husband became one of my students later. As @toto said, it would have been much better to hit the fence or go off the end than attempt a late go around; especially after a prop strike. But a bounced landing is the only time I can imagine not realizing you had a prop strike and trying to go around. But there is no mistaking floating down the runway till you feel and hear the sound of the plane's belly and prop scrape the runway and anyone that thinks they can pull off a go around safely at that point just hasn't been flying long enough to know how many people have died trying to do so. As for the thought you may be able to reduce damage by getting it back off, lets remember a normal gear up is only an incident with minor damage; although expensive and time consuming. But trying to power up and fly an damaged prop and possibly damaged engine off is far more likely to total the aircraft and kill you - speed kills.

In order for the gear detection to work, the SkyVoice Alert LHA 500 uses a sensor wire to detect the presence or absence of voltage on the gear position indicator circuit. If the aircraft has separate indicator lights (e.g., a Green light for "gear down and locked" and a Red/Amber light for "gear up and locked"), the sensor wire can be connected to either. The corresponding detection method must then be selected in the SkyVoice Alert LHA 500 software based on where it is connected.

Hector at Aero Comfort did this for my yokes 2 years ago. Very happy with his work. Around 1 AMU if I recall correctly.

As many of you probably already know, Advanced Aircraft Services out of Troutdale, OR is a MSC. They used to do full reseals in the past, but no longer do them. I had heard they still do patches for leaks and had a reputation of being able to give a no sh!t assessment of whether or not a leak can be reliably patched without a reseal, and could do the job. Earlier this year, I called Greg and set up an appointment to fly my M20C up there for him to check out. The left tank was seeping fuel on the spar and my A&P/IA had been bugging me about it for a while asking me to please get it fixed. Greg and I set up an appointment for Monday of this week, so I flew up on Sunday so it would be ready Monday morning. I met with him as scheduled and he got to work on it, diagnosing and patching the leak. He let the fuel sit in the tank until Tuesday around lunch time to make sure the leak was indeed patched and by 1400 hours that afternoon, I was on my way home. It was extremely refreshing to deal with a shop that keeps its appointments and lives up to its reputation of solid work. That and Greg just seems like a very kind, hard working guy that takes pride in his work. Tim

Like mine, local shop here in DFW did it… -Don

I guess to save the crane bill you could just add power enough to ground effect and re-land without going around if your hypothetical situation gives us the awareness you described. And the runway was 5k+

Way two many are dead from trying to go around; including Mooney pilots. Even an airliner has tried - with a great many fatalities. But there was the lucky twin pilot that landed on his props and not only went around but flew home! He had some splain’n to do but shows death is not guaranteed. Remember insurance covers your mistakes, really want to risk your life with such unfavorable odds? To save what? Funny (assuming he did make it down) how the Mooney pilot going around then drops the gear in the climb up! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I wanted to share a positive experience I have received from MooneyMover.com I received a flyer in the mail for a lower cost powered tow bar starting at $650. I was able to convince the wife to let me order one. What impressed me is the battery selection for the powered tow bar. These are built to order, so if you have tools of Dewalt, Milwaukee, Makita, Ryobi, ect you can order a towbar that will fit your existing batteries. I ordered the 40volt Ryobi version (they also have an 18volt version). You can also order the towbar with a battery and charger if needed. It took a little longer than I expected to receive the towbar because the parts were on backorder. However, I received constant communication from Bernie about the status of my order the entire time. The towbar is well built and seems very solid and it has some significant torque to it. I did have an issue with the handle being a little short and hitting my spinner. (When you have a G model its almost expected) and not fully seating on my nose wheel. I explained the situation and provided some pictures and Bernie took care of the problem immediately and sent me a longer handle section. I am extremely pleased with the quality of the towbar. If your looking for a reasonably priced powered Towbar, take a look at MooneyMover.com

I spoke with the CEO of Mooney earlier in the week regarding the fact that the 20:1 or 40:1 gear sets, for the landing gear actuator, are unavailable and that there are only (2) rather expensive alternatives those face whose gear sets fail the Reoccurring AD. I made a proposal that he is considering but I need to know how many individuals are interested in or want a set of the OEM gears, depending on the outcome, we may have a (1) time opportunity to acquire a set. So, the information I owe Mr. Pollack is how many sets are needed which will determine if what I proposed is doable. If he accepts the proposal, then I will be able to let you know both the pricing and lead-time for the item, this would be similar to a consolidated purchase that would require that payment be made upfront. If (seriously) interested, please let me know how many sets you are interested in, if you know any of the MSCs that may be interested, please let them know as well, I am hoping that there is enough interested that the volume will both reduce cost and make the proposal acceptable to Mooney and the purchaser. Once again, this is for OEM gear sets, NOT what I am currently working on in the event this doesn't work out. V/r Matt

Strap in. I bring you a story of adventure, peril, and a bit of “there I was” with my recent purchase of M20J sn 24-1167, currently N1156P (Soon to be N707LT) You saw it for sale here: A seldom used M20J of a few 1810 hours. 0 time OH engine and prop, new paint, engine mount, tires and tubes. Original interior an panel. Looking for a new home from Fl. And I bought. Sure, a few questions, but it is a good deal so yada, yada, she is mine. Fast forward. We all have jobs. When do you have time? Not now, or now, but NOW! Time to fetch the new find from FL to CA. Overnight, delayed flights, lost luggage, finally land Orlando. Rent car. Drive to Daytona (DAB). Meet airplane and confirm I have not been catfished – it exists and isn’t a fantasy (of 6 figures tossed for fan mail) Wait for an hour for gas (because it is a training base for Embry-Riddle after all). Pay pre-purchase inspection bill (shout out to Daytona Air Service – great people), and become #12 in line for T/O. A moment: ME: 13,000 hr pilot. Current 121 B737, 135 current G650/G4. But first time ALONE in an airplane in 3 decades. I taught in these airplanes: How hard can it be? Well, my friends, neighbors and colleagues, your skills and patience will be tested. Especially in a new airplane over 2,400 nm cross county with the three time FLARE rule: one at 737 height, once at Gulfstream height, and once at “OMG this is LOW” height. After multiple landings, it wasn’t pretty, but no bent metal. I will be calling a local CFI. Short story: DAB-HXD-TOI-MKO-ODO-E63-STS. 2400 nm, 2 days. 9 hours first day, 8 the second. REALLY comfortable factory seats (thank God). Super-grateful for iPad and Sentry+ And a great deal of super-IFR/VFR skills involved. Let me explain. I used skyvector.com to choose the route. I chose cheap fuel spots. It was a fantasy because MA nature had other ideas. Day 1 was just up to meet a friend in HXB and landing was embarrassing. But I didn’t hurt anyone or bend metal. Day 2: Up at em and head West! But 400nm long line of TRW up the East Texas side through LA and AR. So I land short in TOI. Nice FBO, quick gas. New plan. UP North around the TRW and come back down towards Midland right? OK: lots of TRW, dip, dodge and weave at 8,000’ in the “not forecast East of the Texas Line”. Oh, but low clouds/vis underneath you for about 4 states. Thanks. Not ready to takle a non-turbo airplane over the Rockies/Sierras so Southern route is still the key. The FlightAware forecast: LIES: 4+20 if dipping and weaving around the most hearty of cells who didn’t want to be found – but they were there (like Artesians for those of a certain age). MKO: My first time self-fueling up in a while. I ran the truck in the old days: this self-service stuff is new, but I figured it out. Then, well, we are on the back side of the TRW, so let’s head for the original destination: ODO. Multiple overcasts, with MOA’s: NO, you can’t go right for weather but you can go as much LEFT as you want. Why would any military agency in their right mind want to fly in THIS? OK, you want it, you got it! I’ll go around and you in your T-38, F-16, F-18 can cry for help later. Actually feel sorry for the newbies trying to navigate this. Why the Hell would anyone head to Midland in their right mind? Because dear friends, I go there A LOT. Well, to MAF. But now I’m in a light plane headed to ODO. There are MOA’s to avoid, overcast with some good thumpers I’m trying not to get underneath. It’s quite the show. And by landing, it’s 9 hours of flight. And the young line man looks at me on landing and asks, “Want a hangar?” Oh yeah, the MOTHER of all TRW has parked itself South of MDW tops +510 so Yes please! I just bought this pure-skinned angel and don't want her BEATEN TO DEATH BY HAIL PLEASE. (Heck, she make it this far) This AM (4/24): I am up at 630, breakfast, UBER to airport, and there is my plane fueled and ready. Only real IFR to break through layer to E63: Gila bend. 3+45 I was there. Spoke to a really nice lady who was in her C-182RG just out foolin’ around for the day. You know what? It’s 623 nm to STS from here: I can do it. Damn Skippy. Across the American Southwest. Great controllers through Joshua, LAX, Lemore, and OAK. 4+23, 40.2 gal 4+23 later landed in STS. I now have my commute vehicle. Needs some radios. But the mechanics, interior and exterior are fine. Good deal. Glad to be a part of the Mooney community and have a literal 2 day cross-country machine. So friends and family of the Mooneyspace, I welcome you comments, contributions and patronage at my FBO's in OAK and STS. Dang: What a machine AL built!

He wasn’t wearing his tin foil hat properly.

The energy beam must have scrambled his brain.

For where you are, consider Roberto's Aircraft Interiors at New Garden (N57). He did my interior, including yokes. The only caveat is I would NOT send him the yokes, I would take the plane there. If your plane is not taking up space in his shop, he may push other work ahead of yours. I am still waiting for 2 head rests.

I can't image that there are that many companies making these clamps. And that there are any companies that is making the same clamp in an auto and airplane version with any difference.

There’s separate legislation that is supposedly being worked on to limit that as well. I will have to look up the article in one of the aviation magazines. Like I said, small victory

So what, there is no shortage of unapproved parts that could be installed. And probably no one will be wiser till there is an investigation after the accident. Can you imagine the law suits even if it wasn’t a factor in the accident? Regardless, why take chances with such a vital part. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Such an easy question to have when you're relaxing in front of a keyboard with a moment to pause and think. As opposed to the shock of touching down with a scrape.

Only the city and State.

I bought my plane from jimmy back in September. He recommended Keith Kehoe for the pre buy and annual. I figured there was a risk of conflict there, but Gmax's reputation was good enough. I had Keith fill the plane to check for fuel leaks and he missed a slow leak on the left tank. I don't fault him for that, there was old staining that seemed to addressed and before the paint job I didn't notice any new leaking. My plane also seems to be a bit out of rig, requiring left rudder in cruise, but I don't how you'd catch that without flying it. Keith did find that the gear actuator support brace was broken, which he said was pretty common and makes the seat move when the actuator is running. He also spent a couple hours just talking through everything when I finally got out there, and then lent me his bose a30's when we found out my old a10's didn't work in the plane for some reason (still haven't figured that out). I flew back to California with Bob Cabe and he took back the headset. Bob also gave me one of his old headsets until I get a new one. All good people from what I could tell. I haven't gone through another annual yet, so we'll see what's found, but overall, I'm really happy with the experience and I love flying my plane.

Regarding “A way to mask those call outs on climb out”, our system detect Go-Around and will not make any announcements. Further, In the case of AGL height announcements, we can enable only the required heights. For example, if only 400, 300, 100, 50, and 10 feet are needed, the system will call out only these specific heights.

Hard to tell from the photos where the oil is, but I would suspect a clogged check valve or loose hose connection. If a check valve is stuck open, oil will pool in the lowest part of the system and leak out. I would have the check valves disassembled and cleaned and put a wrench on everything and tighten it all up. Clean thoroughly, run up or fly around the pattern a couple of times, and look for more leaks. Let it sit overnight and look for more leaks again. There are also seals between the hose fitting blocks and the turbo, I believe. I bought new ones from Aircraft Spruce for something like $15.00 chasing a similar issue. Turned out that wasn't the problem, but you could buy those cheap enough and send them to the shop with the plane just in case.

Yes and I remember this exact thing happening years ago to a recently checked out and very low time Mooney pilot with a passenger in a rented J that I used to also rent before ownership. Following a number of bounces and the inevitable prop strike, the Mooney only just made it to mid downwind at a couple of hundred feet before it stalled and spun. I’ve been in and out of this airport a fair few times myself. He could have landed in a field outside of the airport straight ahead. A sad ending to a bad decision that that resulted in an innocent life lost. That was an Aerostar and what I call spinning the chamber. Lucky for that pilot the chamber was empty.

No-one has mentioned it so I am going to state what may seem obvious to current Mooney owners but many not be to someone new to Mooney's. Although the owner may claim that the plane has been in a heated hangar its whole life in the NE, you still need to have a thorough inspection for corrosion by a Mooney expert. Another MooneySpace member bought a Mooney in the NE in 2022 (from another MooneySpace member) and he shared his sad story with us. The Buyer (located in Texas) had a pre-buy inspection done by a Mooney Service Center (MSC) in the North East. Everything looked good so he purchased it. It needed an Annual before going to Texas, so the Buyer had the MSC continue the Pre-Buy and turn it into an Annual. During the Annual, the MSC (yes the same one that did the Pre-Buy) found heavy intergranular defoliation corrosion on the lower cap on RH wing stub spar assembly inside inspection panel area directly behind RH gear wheel well. Metal had flaked away. I can't find all the posted detail now, but the Buyer said that the corrosion was not easily visible from the inspection ports. A pro needs to know where to look and to use mirrors on an extension or a borescope. The plane was now Not Airworthy. It had to be ferried to Don Maxwell in Longview for major repair. He posted that the repair cost was $27.5k and took 1 year. That doesn't include the cost of the useless Annual done by the shop that missed the corrosion to begin with, the cost of the Ferry, the Buyer's fixed costs, the Buyer could not stay current without renting a plane and by the time the wing was repaired it needed another Annual. I bet he spent another $10k+ in the meantime. The Buyer had to pay it - the Seller and the MSC had no liability since the sale had already closed. A PreBuy is not a guarantee. It is just an opinion.

I actually have signed up with savvy to help with the prebuy!

I did not use savvy for pre buy because I'd already started the process and they won't jump in after the fact. But my experiences with their mx program make me think they'd be very valuable in the pre buy phase. Definitely second getting an expert to help you with the logs. Also Mooney specific mechanic when/if it gets to the point of looking at airframe specifics.

We do tso Teflon in two colors Compare our skin tight as1072 firesleeve to other mfg"s We Cover the clamp and can install hose identification as required. Iam doing two tio541 tomorrow, we made these hoses back in 1995 for same customer.

Don't go around, save yourself and others you might hurt from an off airport landing.

If I was in the market for an airplane right now I would hire SAAVY to orchestrate the pre-buy inspection. They have a very good data driven approach. I have bought and sold 7 Mooney airplanes over the last 40 years and something is always missed, even by MSC inspections. The advice over the years has been to avoid a hangar queen like this Ovation you are interested in. My current 1986 252 was a hangar queen with 1700 hrs TT and recent IRAN from a prop strike when I bought it 4 years ago and it has had the least amount of airframe or engine issues of any of my other aircraft. There is a lot to be said for low time airframes if they have been hanged and maintained well.

I just had my tanks done at wetWingologist at KFXE. he told me he needed four weeks and that’s exactly how long it took. there was another plane in process when I dropped off so it was easy to see exactly what they are going to do. he redid my wing walk, changed both sump assemblies and it was exactly the amount he told me it would be. this was hands down, the best service/upgrade experience I have ever had in aviation. I cannot recommend them highly enough.

Nice thing about a Continental is you can pull a lifter and look at the cam without pulling a cylinder. If you are concerned about corrosion, start with a borescope of the cylinders then look at the cam from the lifter holes.

Not true! The F-15E does everything better! Well, ok, except landing on a ship.

I think one thing poorly understood in these debates is how likely your airplane is to lose GPS signal, vs. availability of the GPS network overall. The reliability of GPS as a system is very good, legitimate stories about jamming and spoofing not withstanding. There are many redundant satellites, the receivers have excellent discrimination, and overall hardware and software availability is very reliable. Widespread outages are essentially unheard of - any such thing would immediately make national news as shipping deliveries were disrupted, Uber drivers didn't arrive, etc. Because of this, there's an understandable tendency to think a GPS-nav-only airplane isn't a big deal. But GPS nav failure in an individual airplane is a different analysis. Antennas and cabling break, faulty COM radios generate harmonics that disrupt GPS receivers, etc. You also get the occasional, rogue interference in a small local area (sometimes near your airport) from some moron trying to disrupt tracking by his employer or parole officer, or whatever. I won't say these sorts of problems are frequent, but they're not unheard of. Most of us that have used panel-mounted GPS in a variety of airplanes for many years have seen an incident or two. When it happens, you can ask ATC or the CTAF or whoever, "Hey, what's going on with GPS?", but all you get is the verbal equivalent of a shoulder shrug, and reports that it's working for others. That's a pretty lonely feeling in VMC, can't imagine what it would feel like in IMC.

Petrified wood has metal strength but is still wood, the FAA hates this one little trick when you are building a M-18 from scratch.

I’d probably pay the bill and move on. It’s not that much money and unless you want to spend much much more out of pure principle to make someone do what’s right then it’s just going to waste more time and mental energy. That many mistakes is not acceptable and is a real safety issue. You could have lost your airplane to an accident or even died. Not trying to be melodramatic, just want to further impress upon you how risky flying the plane with that many issues was. So certainly don’t go back to that mechanic. One minor thing I could overlook but that was some egregious incompetence. My feedback for you would be de-cowl and inspect your engine after an annual. You could have caught some things before you flew it. I wouldn’t trust even a very good mechanic that much. Even very thorough mechanics can miss things and another set of wyes can catch things. Sorry you had such a bad experience.

The Helio Courier was an "all metal" design from the beginning. If I am not mistaken, the guys/video above are just building an all metal wing per the original design, specs, materials and certification. The article below by @Kevin Harberg indicates that the current Mite M-18X design is comprised of Finland birch plywood design wrapped around the entire wing surface, top and bottom. I suspect redesigning the Mite M-18X to hang the fuselage on a newly designed "all metal wing" instead of Finland birch plywood will be a costly effort and like certifying a new aircraft design. I concur with @KSMooniac. Heavy Metal (Mooney M-18X C-GXTR)

The Dynon HDX supports multiple navigation sources beyond just GPS. It integrates with VOR, ILS, and other traditional navigation systems. You just need to include a GPS with NAV/COM or another NAV/COM radio. You won't need the display heads. Although its legal to fly IFR only with GPS, i personally things its nuts! The GPS signal is very weak and easily jammed. I may laugh at losing GPS signal from someone jamming while VFR but when it happens in IMC its a very serious matter, No way am I launching without it. Only my opinion but it seems careless and reckless to place such confidence in GPS always being there for you.

It would simply be a reversion from U & V to Ovatiom 3, Acclaim and TN. I wouldn't think it would be that far.

If you hold the type certificate AND have all of the drawings and specifications required to produce parts and assemble the aircraft, then you could conceivably build a new one. Without a production certificate, however, you would have to have a ton of FAA and/or DAR involvement to verify conformance with all of the engineering data. That will take a lot of effort to approve every part and assembly on the way to building a full aircraft that can receive an airworthiness certificate. Converting to a "full metal aircraft" is another problem entirely. That would be a major engineering change with approval needed by the FAA and/or a DER, along with new analysis, structural testing, etc. If you have all of the original engineering data, it would give you a bit of a head start in terms of loads and geometry to design a metal solution. At the end of the day, I doubt that effort would ever be worth the expense unless you found some engineers wanting a fun retirement project and don't want to get paid for the work.

This is a no-no for me. Never ever leave something halfway done. Period. Hand-tightening things that are supposed to be torqued, whether it is an oil filter, nut, or whatever, and leaving it like this, is asking for disaster.

I received an email from John (COO) at LASAR last week, they receive the first quote back from the gear manufacturer and awaiting a secondary quote as the first manufacturer's lead time is considered excessive (didn't say how long). Will keep everyone posted. V/r Matt

My method of preventing gear ups is simple and repeatable: Abeam the intended point of landing, drop gear and reduce throttle to initiate descent. Feel the "thump" and watch the green light come on. On base leg, confirm green light. Turn final, check airspeed, altitude and VASI / PAPI lights, adjusting speed and descent as needed. Look and point at the floor indicator (lit at night for visibility). IFR is somewhat different: A dot-and-a-half before glideslope intercept, or at the IAF, drop gear and set power for descent. At breakout, check green light. On short final, no later than crossing the fence, look and point at the floor indicator (lit at night for visibility). Pointing at the floor indicator and saying "gear down" has saved me twice, averaging almost once per decade. So it's an infrequent occurrence, but it would likely end my flying days, so I'm all about prevention! Note that both instances of "almost" happened away from home--one short flight (no tower) and one 3-hour XC (towered) away. And yes, from time to time I do touch n goes, sometimes alone and sometimes with a CFII (during training, and now IPCs and Flight Reviews).

Whew - you had me worried about RT plane tickets to Ft. lauderdale! But they’re under $250. I am getting close to doing it also because i want to get new paint after the tanks. As long as the market keeps beating inflation iam happy [emoji2] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The patch cost me four hours of labor, which I felt was more than reasonable.

Just as a nuance, my understanding is that static wicks SLOW DOWN the discharge of static. Static bleeds out quickly at corners, and that flow is what causes radio interference. The wicks are actually resistors that lower this current to mitigate the interference. True 'static' static wouldn't produce any RF emissions.